The University of North Carolina Child Development Research Institute was established in 1967 as a major research effort in the area of mental retardation and child development. The Institute is organized into two research centers. At the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center (FPG) the basic research theme has focused on the complex interaction of medical, psychological and social factors that influence competent development during early childhood and through the elementary school years. The research program is based on the conviction that major problems of human development that affect the quality of life and burden society require intensive study by specalists from a variety of disciplines. The FPG Center continues an expanded program of development, demonstration, training and service concerned with (1) the organization and synthesis of knowledge to meet specific needs of children and their families, (2) to design a demonstration of new delivery systems to provide technical assistance and (3) the preparation of personnel to meet the variety of roles needed to support programs for the mentally retarded and related developmental problems. At the Biological Sciences Research Center (BSRC) there is fundamental laboratory research on the development of the central nervous system and research upon internal and external factors which may alter or impede its development. There also is highly applied research dealing with early detection and therapeutic intervention in children at risk for retarded developmet or aberrant behavior. The BSRC's Division for Disorders of Development and Learning is a university-affiliated facilities program constituting the primary training and service effort in the Center.